Candace Parker's 3-Word Take on Cathy Engelbert WNBA Finals Boo Brouhaha Says It All
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is public enemy No. 1 right now within the women's basketball community. While this has been the case for quite a while in the eyes of many, vitriol towards Engelbert has reached new heights in the wake of Napheesa Collier's scathing claims about her during a September 30 exit interview.
While Engelbert responded to what Collier claimed she had said before the 2025 WNBA Finals tipped off earlier this month, this hasn't done anything to help fix her reputation among WNBA fans. And this was made apparent when Engelbert was emphatically booed by fans when she came on to the court to present the Las Vegas Aces with their WNBA championship trophy on October 10.
CATHY ENGELBERT GETTING BOOD LMAOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/Ddr4poB2Fa
— Shabazz 💫 (@ShowCaseShabazz) October 11, 2025
When asked about Engelbert getting booed during her postgame press conference, Las Vegas Aces star guard Chelsea Gray said, “When you have great players. You need to treat them like that. And that's top to bottom.
"There has been a lot of eyes on this league, and everybody’s been stepping up to the plate and putting on performances that’s legendary. We have legends that you guys get to witness every day. When we have a league full of people like that, it needs to be treated as such," she added.
“Don’t play in our faces,” reigning WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson (who said she was "disgusted" about Engelbert's comments to Collier) then added after Gray.
Candace Parker Sends Clear Message About Cathy Engelbert Getting Booed by WNBA Fans
WNBA legend Candace Parker (who was teammates with Gray and Wilson on the Aces in 2023) is one of the most respected people in the basketball community, and many take her words as gospel. And Parker got brutally honest about Engelbert getting booed in this way during an October 15 episode of her Post Moves podcast alongside Indiana Fever star Aliyah Boston.
"That was crazy," Parker said about Engelbert getting booed, per an X post from the show.
When Boston asked Parker whether she saw how social media was posting clips and screenshots of Aces players reacting to the boos, Parker added, "She was talking at the beginning to give the championship trophy, people booed. Then there was a pause, and then she gets to come back up there and give the... Finals MVP to A'ja. They booed the entire time.
"It was wild," Parker continued.
Candace Parker & Aliyah Boston react to Cathy Engelbert being booed at the WNBA Finals 🥴 pic.twitter.com/CIloAf3eb4
— Post Moves with Candace Parker & Aliyah Boston (@PostMovesShow) October 15, 2025
It doesn't sound like Parker (who has criticized Engelbert recently) felt all that bad for the commissioner in that moment.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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